Pantry Organization - Before and Almost Done . . .

Ok, so finally starting to get some more energy back (might be thanks to those McDonald's half-cut teas) so I decided to start tackling some organization jobs around my house. "Where to begin," I asked myself as I walked around my home rubbing my chin with a snarky look on my face. The answer was quite obvious!

The kitchen pantry after my family has had the run of the house.

The pictures should make it obvious why I chose the pantry however, you don't have the additional pleasure of the smell I was breathing. Ironically, the smell was not from the pantry but from an orange that had missed the trash can and was sprouting underneath the kitchen sink! Not so fresh! Now, I shouldn't complain. I do have some sort of pantry and I am happy to have a roof over my head (and the last pantry I had was under the stairwell and you could only squat in there and that is exactly what a opossum did - long, and really funny story, but for another post). The people who built our house, let's just say to be nice, did not think things through. My kitchen island is shaped like a triangle (ridiculous waste of space), the girls bathroom is only big enough for 1 person at a time (seriously not an over-exaggeration), and the pantry, while it looks fun and practical, is really just a HUGE pain-in-the-@$$! To get to anything in the back, you have to pull out the movable shelves in front. If you do it in a hurry, items have been known to throw themselves at you!

It's amazing how quickly stuff accumulates!
I did clean our the side doors and the movable shelves
in front before I remembered to take any photos.
Sorry about that!

Once I cleared everything out, I read labels.
Those pickles were "Best By 3/2010"!!!

So what's a girl to do when her pantry is a disaster? Hit the stores for the perfect organizational items. Now we have The Container Store opening up in March but I just couldn't wait that long. I hit up my local Bed, Bath and Beyond and the minute I walked in the store, they had exactly what I was looking for, right there on the end cap. It was literally like a light was shining from up-above right on it. Now I did a lot of Pinterest browsing and blog reading before heading to the store. I knew I was going to spend a lot of money but here's my reasoning. One blog lady had redone her pantry and it looked beautiful. She spent $48 on her containers; they were all purchased at the Dollar Store. She did comment that some of them had already broken but since they were cheap, she could easily replace them. Well, I have never been called cheap and was always told 3 things by my parents - Order what you want, eat what you order - Always buy the best you can afford - You get what you pay for. Yes, my parents did share other little pearls of wisdom with me but those came to mind first and two out of three actually apply here. I don't believe in wasting $48 for things that won't keep my food fresh (money running down the sink) or I have to replace every couple of weeks. Therefore, I armed myself with 12 coupons, yes, I said 12 and no, I have never appeared on Extreme Couponing. Did you know that you can use as many coupons, current or expired, all at the same time at B, B & B? I learned that the last time I was there and splurging on a Dyson cordless vacuum (again, a perfect example of you get what you pay for because that thing rocks and sucks . . . but only in a good way!).

I won't tell you my total but you could probably figure it out if you are good with math!!

My pretties! I did do some organizing in the fridge also but not
100% sure about that yet. The labels are still on while I decide if the spacing is ok.

I am almost ready to reveal my fridge and pantry makeover but still have to decide on labels. I do love the chalkboard labels but they are everywhere so not sure about them. Hopefully I will conquer this earth-shattering, mind-blowing dilemma and post you a finished project soon. Plus, I REALLY want to mark something off my To Do list. More photos to come but that is for another post!

Holy Hoarders Batman!

Not my house, thank goodness!

OMG! Ok, so I had never seen an episode of Hoarders on A&E but I stumbled across one last night and boy, was I grossed out.  I could not believe the way those people were living. It was disgusting looking into their fridges, their bathrooms, their beds, you get the idea. I literally had my skin crawling and the saddest thing was, this addicition of hoarding was tearing the families apart. One of the episodes I watched (yes, I watched two of them), the woman's husband was going to leave her. She fought so hard to keep all her stuff and took everything back into her apartment (thank God you don't live next to her), that her husband did leave and her son just managed avoiding going off to Child Protective Services! She was fighting over empty cardboard boxes, broken lamps, you name it. She really needs help but is just not ready to accept it.

Another Hoarders home.

Now, after I turned off the TV, I laid in bed for awhile and just started thinking. I know I am still recovering from surgery and on limited physical duty, but I just can't take my house the way it is. Granted, my mess is not as bad as the rooms above or the ones I saw on TV but I might just be one rat skeleton and a glass full of mold away from Hoarders!!

My storage area needing major love! 

No parking our car in this garage!

Now, I have always said I am a more-is-more person. That is just how I roll but after watching that show, I have vowed to GET RID OF STUFF! I have more than I need so in addition to my Mission Organization, I am also going to rid our house of stuff. I have probably 10 pieces of furniture to move out and countless decorating items I no longer use. I am going to eBay some, give away others and donate the rest. All junk must go! I refuse to become an episode of Hoarders so first thing this morning, I got up and cleaned out the fridge and freezer (baby steps!).

So, I will continue on my journey to organize and will make that job easier by purging at the same time, but that will be for another post!

P.S. I did just receive six boxes of stuff from Pottery Barn (yesterday BEFORE Hoarders) but most of that is utilitarian and will help me in my organizing quest. You'll see!

Seriously???

Ok, so while I am still recovering from surgery (Dr. told me yesterday I was doing too much too soon and had to rest the next couple of days - ugh!) I was able to haul myself to each room in my house. I sat there with my iPad and started a list of everything I want to do in that room this year. Now this doesn't include all the big things we still need to do like - replace all windows and outside doors, retile pool and repave decking, replace boat lift, you get the idea. However, there are some little things, some big things, things I can do, things I need my GTG (Go To Guy) to do, and some things I need someone else to do.

I just counted my list and I have 186 items! Yikes! So they run the gambit, I have everything on my list from reorganizing my pantry (did you know the Container Store is opening up in Tampa the weekend of March 16 near International Mall, organization heaven!!), touching up paint on the baseboards, adding some plants, restaining deck, buy a new mattress (you slide right off the bed if you get too close to the edge!), and obviously, the list goes on, and on, and on.

Well, I am not able to start on my list today, yes, it's driving me nuts, but hoping to start tackling it this weekend. I will share my progress with you as I actually progress - won't that be fun?!?! So what's a girl who has to rest suppose to do, play on Pinterest and come up with dozens of more ideas, on-line shop (did some serious damage at potterybarn.com the other day!!), and brainstorm more ways to get this house together while staring at pine needles still sitting on my floor!! Egads!

So starting this weekend, things WILL BE happening, but that's for another post!

Mission Organization

Ok, I think I start off every year (like many other folks) very excited about getting organized for the New Year. I always make plans, lists and get busy pinning on Pinterest. Now I made major strides last year, remember these beauties?

Turned an old TV armoire into a baking center.
Still looks this good!

Cleaned up the spice cabinet.

Found a home for our transient items!

Finally got the organization for my closet I wanted!

The hall closet now makes sense and it is easy to find what you are looking for.

But then I have this lovely sight.
(Note, all those plastic bags in the background are now gone
as those were items for the Winter Store at my daughter's school.)

My little butler pantry definitely needs some love.

Holiday and regular storage totally needs to be reorganized.

So my plan for my house for the new year is simple, I am going to go to each room, sit there, and just look at the room with fresh eyes. I will come up with a list of things that need to be done . . . replace curtains, touch-up trim, fill frames . . . and then I am going to create a master list for each room. I will then assign a week to each room and that will be my main focus for the week. I already have a long list for my GTG (Go To Guy) to give me quotes for some home improvements I can't do, so hoping to finally get over that organization hump.

It may just be in my head but I swear my home (meaning the people who live in it) is more balanced when the house is organized. When it's messy (like right now for instance!!), there is more arguing, running late and basic chaos. My new plans will test my theory but that will be for another post!

I Think I Can, I Think I Can . . .

Ok, so I have had a lot of fun (too much so) recently making some changes to our home and buying items for a someday gift/craft project/a must for the house. As I tell everyone I know (and as those who really know me, already know), I am a more is more kind of gal!

But I was recently paying bills and looking over our purchases and came to a startling realization - we have been throwing money away! I can't believe all the money I have spent (see previous blog post on ALL my recent purchases, not to mention that my husband has currently been on a shopping spree as well!). So I gathered up the bills, grabbed a glass of wine and sat down with my hubby to propose a plan I had - now this is far-fetched for me and will be one of the biggest challenges of the year - drum roll please - let's not spend any money for the next month! Ta da! My hubby starts laughing! Now I am not talking about bills, food, normal living expenses (haircuts, birthday presents, etc...). I am talking about all the EXTRA little stuff I buy for the house to decorate, seasonal items, shoes just for the heck of it, fun jewelry, you name it and he has to agree to the same on his end. When we both stopped laughing, we realized it made a lot of sense. We have SO much, we honestly don't need one more thing. Se we decided September would be a great month to start, one, because it's the next month chronologically and two, because it's a month I usually shop a lot. I mean A LOT. I hit all my usual haunts and a lot more. I LOOOOOOVVVVE fall and with Halloween decorations starting to hit the stores this will be the perfect start time. I have to keep reminding myself -  I. MUST. BE. STRONG!

If I see something that inspires me on Pinterest or in a magazine, I can make it or copy it but I have to only use items I have here at the house. In fact, I just reorganized one of the closets in my house but used only items I already had plus, I painted it by mixing two colors! Look at me go and it's not even September!

This challenge will be hard for a shopping-kind-of-girl like me but I think I can do it! I am using many different trains of thought to keep me on track -

1) We are taking a BIG vacation in two years (including my two nieces) so it won't hurt to start saving.
2) My house has a TON of storage and I am running out of room!
3) I have two kids to still get through college, one starts in four years.
4) I would like my husband to retire some time in the next 20-25 years.
5) Do I really need it?

Yes, I know one month of saving won't help me afford everything I just listed, but I am hoping it will start me on some better spending habits. Now don't you worry, I will still allow myself that splurge purchase every so often, the goal is just not as much!

So I am off to finish pulling together my newly organized closet, and I look forward to showing it off to you, but that will be for another post!

Where Do I Stand - Part Tres -

Ok, so I have a friend who recently started following my blog. In fact, she sent me an email and said she was a little "irritated" with me because she spent too much time reading all my old posts and playing on Pinterest and didn't get her full sink of dishes washed (yes, Karyn, I am talking about you!). I told her, "a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do" and that is why I had children - for the domestic help! Back to subject, my friend did mention something that got me thinking, she wanted to know where I stood on my first blog post of this year, did I manage to stick with my "resolutions"?

So I had to check it out,  here's the post and the Cliffs Notes to decipher it:

Red is the original post.

Blue is the follow-up post posted a couple of weeks later. 
Black is today's thoughts!

Where Do I Stand?

Here's this week's goals"
1. Stop drinking Coke Zero (or any soda) and switch to green tea. It's like that old saying goes, "quitting smoking is so easy, I have done it dozens of times." That holds true for me and my beloved Coke Zero. It's a special time for each day, twice a day, when I pop one open. I love to hear the fizz! I am currently out of my beloveds so I am going to start today with the green tea.

Yeah, on this one I have held strong!! I haven't had a soda since last Saturday. I have been moody, crabby, and irritable (so basically the same as always!!). I have had some Green Tea from Panera (the best!), an energy-booster smoothie from Smoothie King (SCAM!!), some hot teas and drank a lot more water. I am still not satisfied and will continue to look for something that gives me that same happiness as popping open a soda but won't make me question if it is 5 o'clock somewhere!
This one I am good on. I have probably had 4-5 sodas over the entire 7 months. I don't really crave them anymore and really only drank them because they were the only option at the time. Check!

2. Plan our menu. One daughter has gone Vegetarian again so we will plan more veggie-based meals with meat only once or twice a week. We also plan to work more fish into the menu.

Did this. I made Panera Bread's Mac-n-Cheese. Really good but not as good as Panera's according to my little one. The rest of us loved it (much cheaper thanMartha's fabulous mac) and served roasted broccoli on the side. I mixed the two together and am literally drooling for it right now! Also made a Baked Potato Soup with homemade French bread. The soup was really good but not great. It tasted a little "sour" according to one of my girls but I used 2% milk and reduced fat sour cream so that might be a factor. Fat just tastes better!! The bread was a mix from Williams-Sonoma made in my new bread maker. We ate that dinner on the porch over looking the water. The temperature was perfect. So my girls decided we would have a hearty soup and homemade bread every Sunday. It lead to really nice conversation and we talked about where we want to go on vacation this year (more to come about that later!). Making a salad for dinner tonight with homemade croutons and Friday night is eating all the leftovers!

I was pretty good with menu planning during the school year. It got a little hairy at the end of the school year and for most of the summer, mostly because we are just not on a regular schedule. I do have my niece staying the week with us (also a vegetarian) so we are having taco salad tonight and they can just leave the meat off and use kidney beans instead. Already thinking about menus once school starts in 18 days!

3. Blog 3 times.

This is post number 2 for the week.
Not happening. Do I really have that many interesting things to say?? Will work on 1-2 a week for now until I get more creative!

4. Learn Excel for my on-line business, www.toochicgifts.com. Start to gather end of the year documents.

I have been working on this last night and all this morning. It's not as easy as I thought it would be. All the tutorials I watched were for more advanced needs so this is going slowly. Up to March for the year (UGH!) but once I nail it down, will update monthly from here on out!
Good on this! I learned VERY BASIC Excel and have been keeping monthly expenses updated (except last month's - oops!).

5. Finish organizing my closet. I will post about this but don't have Befores.

Bought perfect brown cloth containers from Target, nothing fancy, and have started the final organization. I need more of them, and a few more hooks for the necklaces I am hanging, but can't run to the store as my car is in the shop. Maybe can swing by after Girl Scout Leader meeting tonight so I can finish this tomorrow! Have made my way through all the clothes and have a pile to donate and a pile to throw away (yes, some of the clothes I have worn were that bad!!)
Considering I pulled my closet together with miscellaneous odds-and-ends and did not have a major reno, I think it turned out great! It's perfectly organized right now and I will post pixs of it very soon (maybe next post??).

6. Clean & organize the playroom-now-turned-craft room.

Not gonna happen! Unless, there is another day added to this week or I find another smoothie shop with a truly powerful ENERGY drink, move this to next week. I am excited to finish this room as I want to finish the curtains, fill frames, make some pillows and add a few more organizational items to the walls. Plus, I want to clean out the drawers and filing cabinets. Believe it or not, I am so excited about finishing this project but am sticking to my guns about finishing some others first!

50-50? Curtains are done and hanging but desperately need an ironing (Downy Wrinkle Release can't help me here!), cabinets have started to be organized and some frames are filled. Still needs a lot of help but getting there. Would really like to crank this out ASAP so I can start crafting for the Fall!

7. Register my daughter for high school!

Done! I had her sit down with me and make sure everything I keyed in was correct. I printed out the copy of the registration and stuck it on my bulletin board!

She is in, accepted, and even made the Devilettes dance team which is great for her, but will add a TON to our schedule. It's all good but need to really stay on top of this!

All-in-all, not too bad but I do have a few things to add -
8. Find tiles for my living room fireplace renovation.


9. Paint my living room (it's 18 feet in some places so on the fence of how much I want to try this myself, I had professionals the first time but not in my budget right now). 


10. Order new wine fridge.


11. Hang new travel photos.


12. Make First Day of School gifts for new teachers (no, it's not a bribe!).


13. Do something to the outside of my front door. Not happy with the entrance of my house so need want to redo that.


So there is it. As I am currently sitting in the local library waiting for the A/C in my car to get fixed, I am actually starting to hyperventilate at all my To Dos. Time to get going but that is for another post!

It's The Final Countdown . . .

Ok, so I was doing what I do best, driving carpool this morning, when the kids were talking about the number of days of school left - 22!! What?!?! But I still have so much more to do before they invade!! Time to make my mac-daddy, "get your butt in gear" To Do list! So here goes -

1. Find a seamstress to make pillows and curtains/roman shades for family room. (Some day - Take sewing class so don't have to pay someone!! I probably could sew a basic pillow but not sure how to do cording and don't want to waste expensive fabric).

Isn't it a great fabric? Waverly Santa Maria Adobe.

2. Paint family room. I can do this myself. I am having a very large cabinet from Pottery Barn delivered in the next couple of weeks (it's been back-ordered) and I want to have the room painted before then.

Love, love, love this! Getting it in black instead!

3.  I spent 3.5 hours yesterday with my favorite carpenter - turned contractor - going over things to do in my house. I always paint or stain whatever he does (to save on cost) so once I get his estimates, time to get staining/painting! We want to have a pediment we bought at a Paris flea market hung (super heavy!),
a coffered ceiling added to our dining room, storage built for DVDs, stained crown moulding hung and a few other miscellaneous jobs.

You can't really tell in the photo above but my pediment is the brown one laying on top of the green trunk. It was an incredible shop! I loved the 15-foot high moldings but promised my husband I wouldn't try to get them home!!

4. Restain upstairs, outside porch.

5. Have curtain/valance made for office. (Again, wish I could really sew!)

PKauffman Breeze Tapestry

6. Buy replacement wine fridge.

7. Organize kitchen cupboards. I have started but not finished yet. Will post all the photos once done. The cabinets I have done so far do look really great!

8. Have pillows made for outside porch. Using Sun 'n Shade fabric so extra thick material.

Waverly Sun 'n Shade Magic Carpet

So that's just part of my list but the items I wanted to prioritize. Once the kids are home, we will tackle closets and desks but that's for another post!

Getting Things Done . . .

My husband knows I just love tulips so he bought me these!
I think they look gorgeous!

Ok, so I am on a one woman mission! I have a goal and I am going to meet it. My sisters and my mom are coming for a 40th (neither mine nor my mom's - sorry Mom!!) birthday party celebration the middle of February (will definitely post about that because I am super excited and can't wait!!). I am going to do everything in my power to get EVERYTHING off my To Do list between now and then!

So I got all my Valentine's Day stuff up. Yeah! Remember, I started with this . . .  

and this . . . 

and now I have this . . . 

and this little cutie . . . 

and the bragging ends there because I also have this . . . 

Not too pretty yet!

I love these shelves however, I think they may be going away or getting moved to another location but I will talk about that later, once I decide!  Right now, they are a little sad! As mentioned in a previous post,  I am planning on adding some winning touches to these shelves. The urns will get a rosette-filled sphere, the frames will be filled, I am still searching for that perfect Subway art to fill the white frame on the top shelf, the vases will be filled with some beautiful flowers and I would really like to make a banner to hang on the shelves, mixed in with my Nana's crocheted hearts. I am planning on crafting, creating and getting my glitter on this Tuesday (I am taking 14 Girls Scouts camping this weekend so no rest for the weary. This will be my first TRUE test of being off the Coke Zero!). 

So it's definitely a start and for those keeping track, this is my third blog post for the week (check that!), I have exercised 3 times (check that, and still taking a walk tonight while oldest daughter is in piano), started cleaning out the garage (half check), finished all the year-end paperwork and financial reports for my on-line store (double bonus check, balanced to the penny - must be a fluke!), but I did have a glass of wine Tuesday night. Just one and that was after Girl Scouts so that should just be a given, so no judgement!

Well, off to go tackle the kitchen, finish the laundry and clean up, and then I have a box, a very large box filled with frames. Some need photos, some don't. 

And I am going to find homes for all of them in my house (we put up a TON of photos when our house was on the market). I also have two very large walls that I am going to fill with frames, one with travel photos, one with family, but that is for another post!

Such a Short Week . . .

Ok, so I didn't have a chance to post yesterday (NOTE: started this on Monday, but finishing it Wednesday morning!) about my plans for this week but since today is a holiday (meaning the kids are home, so not really a holiday for me!), I have a few minutes to post a quick blog.

I have the girls home today, Tuesday I am tied up with Girl Scouts all day (having a small ceremony at our meeting and I have to pull it all together!), finally getting the grays covered on Wednesday (and yes, it takes all day), field trip to the local Fine Arts Museum with an Egyptian exhibit on Thursday morning and then hopefully our new dishwasher will be installed in the afternoon and Friday, the girls are off from school AGAIN! Oh vay! Craaaazaaay week!

So my few goals for this week are:
1. Start an exercise program. I am shooting for twice a week to start. Whether it is just to go out and walk or do an exercise DVD, it will count. The weather outside is perfect here in Florida so I SO need to take advantage of it! (Did a DVD on Monday and am still sore!! Planning on taking a walk before haircut.)

2. Start to organize the playroom/garage. Yes, I admit, during the holidays, we basically shoved, stuffed and hid junk, stuff and trash down there. Time to pay the piper and get it cleaned up!

3. Catch up on all the laundry and dishes (yes, I have to hand wash now that the dishwasher is on the fritz!).

4. Post 3 times this week. Gonna have to squeeze them in!

I think that is it. This week doesn't have a lot of hours to fit in any special projects but there is always next week, but that is for another post!